


Crossroads

by Riona



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-29
Updated: 2013-04-29
Packaged: 2017-12-09 21:57:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/778431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riona/pseuds/Riona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set prior to the first murder; no spoilers beyond the first trial. Murder field trips acquaint a man with regrettable bedfellows, as the saying doesn't go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crossroads

**Author's Note:**

> I've been dying to write something for these two. I'm reading along with the Let's Play and trying to stay spoiler-free, so please forgive me if this conflicts with anything beyond chapter one!

You’re meant to hook up with your classmates on field trips, right? There’s practically a law. You normally know your classmates for more than five minutes before the field trip actually starts, of course, but there’s still something reassuringly _normal_ about this, lying here with Komaeda in the middle of this whole screwed-up situation.

“You’re awake, Hinata-kun?” Komaeda asks.

Hinata raises his head from Komaeda’s bare shoulder, his hair sticking to the back of his neck with sweat. The sun hasn’t risen yet, but he can at least make out vague shapes in the room, which means it’ll probably be up soon. “Don’t know how I was meant to get any sleep when you’re such a terrible pillow,” he mock-grumbles.

Komaeda gives an oddly delighted-sounding laugh. “Well, of course! I’m astonished that you could stand to touch me at all. We both know I’m not fit to lick the mud off your shoes.” He laughs again. “Or sand, I suppose, considering where we are.”

What? That’s going a bit far. “If you’re fishing for compliments, I’m not planning to bite.”

“I would never presume to do such a thing,” Komaeda says, brightly.

Hinata frowns at him, even though he won’t be able to see it, then rolls over and closes his eyes again.

Somehow the situation feels a little less reassuring.

-

When Hinata next wakes, the sun is shining vigorously through his shutters; Komaeda must have opened them. Komaeda himself is perched on the edge of the bed in his jeans and T-shirt, just looking at him, which is... mildly creepy, actually, but okay. Hinata briefly considers asking whether Komaeda was watching him sleep and concludes that he doesn’t really want to know the answer.

It’s tempting to roll over and go back to sleep until this whole murder field trip thing turns out to be the world’s worst practical joke, but it’s probably best to stay aware of what’s happening, really. Hinata sits up with a yawn, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “Guess we should head to the restaurant.”

“Can it wait a moment?” Komaeda asks. “There’s something I’d like to ask you.”

Well, that’s vague. Hinata shrugs. “Go ahead.”

“Have you considered Monobear’s offer?” Komaeda asks. “Killing a friend to escape this situation?”

That wasn’t what Hinata was expecting, and it’s not really something he wants to talk about. He looks away, uncomfortably. Should he lie, say it’s never crossed his mind? If Komaeda can tell he’s lying, though, that won’t look good. “I guess. I don’t think there’s anyone who wouldn’t at least think about it. But I don’t think I could ever really do something like that. I hope I couldn’t.”

“I see!” Komaeda exclaims. “That hope of a way out must be difficult to resist, of course, but resisting it takes a very special hope as well. You’re” – his breath catches oddly, and Hinata looks over at him again – “truly a remarkable person, Hinata-kun!”

Komaeda’s eyes are bright, his pale cheeks very slightly flushed, his breathing a little shorter and shallower than usual. Is this... is he...

“Komaeda,” Hinata says, “you’re weirding me out.” He drags himself out of bed and heads through for a quick shower.

He’s expecting Komaeda to have gone on ahead by the time he gets out, but he steps out of the shower room to find Komaeda still there, looking up at the ceiling and humming tunelessly. Hinata starts hunting for his hastily-discarded clothes from last night; it pretty much negates the shower, he knows, but he can’t really be bothered to put on anything new, especially as it’s going to be drenched in sweat in about three seconds.

“Are we going?” Komaeda asks. “There was more I wanted to say.”

“You can tell me on the way.” He leaves his shirt on the floor; it’s still early, but it’s already warm enough for him to know he’ll regret putting it on. “Coming?”

Komaeda pulls on his hoodie – Hinata has no idea how he can stand to wear that thing in this climate – and runs his long fingers through his hair a couple of times, and then he stoops down beside the bed and reaches under the mattress.

“Uh,” Hinata says, “what are you doing?”

“Just a moment, please,” Komaeda says, and he pulls out whatever he was looking for.

It’s a kitchen knife.

Hinata stares at it.

“I didn’t put that there,” he says, bewildered, and then, “Did you put it there?”

And then it occurs to him that they’ve been ordered to kill each other and Komaeda’s holding a kitchen knife and this definitely isn’t a kitchen. He takes a couple of steps back without thinking.

But Komaeda wouldn’t... he wouldn’t, would he? Maybe this is just something he’s into. Even though they both just got dressed.

He should’ve been more careful. It’s too soon to trust anyone in a situation like this.

“Uh,” he says, and then he has no idea what he’s going to say next. If Komaeda was planning to kill him, he’d have done it while he was asleep, right?

“Nobody knows we spent the night together, do they?” Komaeda asks, inspecting the blade.

Okay, so Hinata is maybe definitely going to be murdered. He emits a manly sort of squeak and bolts for the cabin door and his _fucking shirt_ gets tangled around his legs and brings him crashing to the floor, _fuck_ this _fucking_ weather, it is _literally_ going to kill him, he is literally about to die because it’s too hot for a goddamn shirt.

“Hinata-kun, are you okay?” Komaeda asks. He sounds genuinely concerned, which somehow just makes everything more confusing and terrifying and Hinata needs to get out of here _now_.

By the time Hinata manages to scramble to his feet again, Komaeda has, of course, moved to block off the door. Hinata tries not to glance too obviously at the windows. If he makes a dash for it...

“Hinata-kun,” Komaeda says, gently, “I’m not going to kill you.” His right hand moves suddenly, the hand holding the weapon, and Hinata flinches – but Komaeda just tosses the knife onto the bed. “See?”

Okay. Okay. That does make Hinata’s horrible murder feel a little less imminent, although he still has no idea why the hell Komaeda brought a knife here. He edges closer to the bed, just in case Komaeda decides to go for it again.

Komaeda’s eyes linger on Hinata’s hands, then on the knife. “You should pick it up.”

“That’s okay,” Hinata says, although if he’s honest with himself it’s really, really tempting. “Why, uh, why did you bring a knife to my room?”

Komaeda laughs, lightly. “Oh, dear, I should have realised there might be a misunderstanding. You see, Hinata-kun, I actually wanted _you_ to kill _me_.”

There is a long silence.

“Is that a joke?” Hinata asks, weakly. “Komaeda, that – that’s a terrible joke.”

“Do you understand, Hinata-kun?” Komaeda crosses to Hinata in two swift paces, grabs Hinata’s right hand and clasps it to his chest. Hinata just stares at him, frozen, his mind suddenly too overloaded to even think about pulling away. “If you kill me, you’ll be hoping not to be caught, so you can live and go home. But I know you don’t want our friends to die either, so you’ll also hope for them to prevail in the trial and survive! Whatever the outcome in the trial, your hope will be fulfilled! Two hopes, both so strong, one resting on each possibility... wouldn’t anyone kill to be in such a situation?” He laughs. “If you’ll excuse the pun!”

It’s not even a pun, Hinata thinks, slightly hysterically. “Are you actually serious?”

“I never wanted to kill you,” Komaeda says. “I thought about it, of course. But what if I survived the trial? Someone like me surviving at the expense of fifteen beautiful, talented young people? I should have faith in everyone’s ability to catch me, of course – it’s absurd to think someone like me could escape Super High-school Level justice – but I couldn’t bear to take that chance.” He presses a kiss to Hinata’s knuckles, then picks up the knife and – before Hinata has time to freak out about that – presses the handle into Hinata’s hand, which calls for a completely different kind of freaking out. “But if you killed _me_ , Hinata-kun... oh, it would be perfect. Whoever survived that trial would be worthy of their triumph. I would be honoured to die at your hand. It’s so much more than I deserve.”

Hinata has been feeling since he woke up that something isn’t right, something closer and less abstract than the messed-up instructions they’ve been given. He’s starting to realise, far too late, that that something is Nagito Komaeda.

“We can go to my cabin instead,” Komaeda offers, “if you’re worried about getting my blood on your floor.”

“Komaeda,” Hinata says, a little shakily, “please go away.”

“Of course, Hinata-kun!” Komaeda exclaims, apparently ecstatic to be granted the honour of being told to go away. “It doesn’t have to be now! It will be a pleasure to know that you _could_ kill me at any moment.”

Hinata finally regains himself enough to shove Komaeda away from him and take a few steps back, but his legs feel like they’re made out of toothpicks and he has to brace himself against the side of the bed. “I’m not going to kill you,” he says.

With a sudden twist of his stomach he realises he’s still holding the knife; he almost flings it away, but stops himself. It’s probably best not to let go of it until Komaeda’s actually gone.

“That’s all right,” Komaeda says, brighter than the tropical sun outside. “If you could find the time to think about it, at least, I’d appreciate it! But I’m sure one of the others could be persuaded, so you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Hinata has to sit on the bed; he can’t stay standing any longer. He feels sick. “One of the others...?”

Komaeda gives him a rueful smile. “You know, Hinata-kun, I did want it to be you.”

And then he opens the door of the cabin and finally – _finally_ – he’s gone.

Hinata stares at the door.

Hinata stares at the knife in his hand.


End file.
